Leak: Motorola Atrix 3: The Android superphone we’ll all be lusting after this year?

Samsung’s flagship device has always been the Galaxy. Nokia has the Lumia 800/900, HTC has the Sensation/Incredible, and Apple has the iPhone. But what about Motorola? Last year at the Consumer Electronics show they announced the Atrix, their first dual core smartphone. Roughly 10 months later it was replaced by the Atrix 2, which didn’t really bring anything new to the table except for a larger screen and an improved camera. Most people don’t remember the Atrix 2 because less than one month later the Motorola RAZR was announced. Spec wise, the RAZR is basically the Atrix 2, but in a body that’s much thinner and far more attractive. So assuming the Atrix brand represents the pinnacle of Motorola’s achievements, what does the Atrix 3 have in store? According to a leak discovered by the folks at Pocketnow, it’s the RAZR Maxx on steroids. Here’s what’s expected: quad core NVIDIA Tegra 3, 2 GB of RAM, 4.3 inch 1280 x 720 HD screen, 10 megapixel camera, and a ridiculously large 3,300 mAh battery. It looks exactly like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from the two images we’ve seen, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.

Big battery, sharp screen, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, is this going to be the superphone that’s going to stay in our hearts and minds for 2012? That depends. When exactly will the Atrix 3 hit the market? How much will it cost? How bad will Motorola’s Android skin be compared to stock Ice Cream Sandwich? We’re supposedly going to find the answer to all these questions at Mobile World Congress later this month.

What sort of competition will the Atrix 3 have? There’s Samsung’s Galaxy S III, which will likely be announced in April; HTC’s One X, which will also sport an NVIDIA Tegra 3; and then there’s the elephant in the room … the iPhone 5. Nokia’s not going to bring anything interesting to the table until Microsoft release Windows Phone 8, and LG will continue trying to get us to pay attention to their 3D devices, when in reality we couldn’t care less.

Looks just like the original Atrix, only 4.5 instead of 4.0. Notice the wrap around battery cover. Not even close to the Galaxy Nexus.

Kwaku Bonsu

ATT will most assuredly lock the bootloader to stop customers from tethering for free. I’m not sure why people are still going on about this. Bootloaders are locked in the United States. If you don’t like it, then buy the overseas version.

The Dude

My phone’s boot loader was locked, and I just unlocked it so I could circumvent their protections. It is not all that hard.

The Dude

My phone’s boot loader was locked, and I just unlocked it so I could circumvent their protections. It is not all that hard.